Steel: Competition Moving Inland

A third of the nation's steel and nearly
two-thirds of its highly profitable sheet and strip is consumed within
250 miles of Chicago, but only a fourth of U.S. steel is produced in
the area. Aware of the opportunities this situation offers in the
world's fastest growing steel market, major steel companies are
spending nearly $1 billion to expand or build new facilities in the
Indiana industrial complex near Chicago.

U.S. Steel is in the midst of a $300 million expansion of its Gary
works, and second-ranked Bethlehem has already spent $350 million...